A member of a military force originally organized in Croatia in 1741 by Baron Franz von Trenck (1711–94) to clear the country near the Turkish border of robbers, and later enrolled as a regiment in the Austrian army, becoming renowned for their ferocity and brutality. Hence more generally: a fearsome or brutal soldier from Croatia. Also figurative.
In Hungary, Croatia, and other parts of eastern Europe: a guard; an armed servant or retainer; a member of a local constabulary.
A member of a chiefly Khoekhoe regiment established in 1793 by the Dutch East India Company for the defence of the Cape of Good Hope. Compare "Hottentot".